


Shattered

by The_artisticfox



Category: Original Work
Genre: Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Magic, Original Character(s), Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Science Fiction, Shipping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-07 11:37:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18234347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_artisticfox/pseuds/The_artisticfox
Summary: When the government passes a "Sameness Act", people rebel against them. What happens once they have their freedom?





	1. Prologue

The world used to be a wonderful place before the corrupt decided to change it. They took the world in their hands and molded it like clay until it looked just how they wanted it. Then, they took the people and hollowed them out, leaving only a shell of what was there before. They didn’t stop there, though; rewriting the laws of the land and forcing opinions and beliefs onto everyone was another step of their plan to make everyone the same.  
They passed the Sameness Act of 3087, which stated that, “All individuals that are born on planet Earth must dress in approved styles and colors of clothing, have one of the approved haircuts and hair colors, and may not disobey the set of rules that are found on page 409 in section O, subsection 39”. Some people accepted this new act, afraid of disagreeing with this new government. Other people did not like this at all, so they staged a revolt.  
The plan was that there would be four revolts on March 17th, 3090 in the four main cities in the world; Quellion, Martanx, Plepp, and Trenar. If the revolt failed, which it most likely would, then they would flee to the underground locations near the site of the revolt.   
Obviously, the revolts failed. The people involved in it were detained and executed, but some were able to escape into the underground. For the next couple of years, they built their small and accepting community. It’s not perfect, but at least they have a home.


	2. A Rude Awakening, Followed by Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get an introduction to two characters, Adrien and Rayne.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. PLOP!_

A drop of water fell on my face, giving me a rude awakening from my deep sleep. I glanced over at my clock which read...nothing. Looks like the electricity hasn’t been turned on yet, which means it’s still early. Perfect time for a shower, since there’s no line yet.

I slide out of my cot, internally cringing at the squeaking noises it makes. I don’t want to wake my roommate; he has a nasty temper. I try to get a change of clothes out of my dresser as quietly as I can which isn’t an easy task. Finally, I grab a towel and speed-walk my way to the showers.

There may have been a long line, but at least there was still hot water when I got there. I undress and step underneath the showerhead. Immediately, small streams of blue run down my body and into the drain. I run my hand through my hair, and when I look at it it’s a dark blue color. My hair dye’s coming out, which is to be expected with the cheap stuff they have down here.

“Hurry up!” My roommate, impatient and angry as ever, pounds on the door. “Other people need to shower!” I sigh and turn the shower off, wrap a towel around myself, and leave. I can’t help but smile when I hear him yell “ADRIEN, STOP USING UP THE HOT WATER!”

We’re really good friends.

I get back to our room and get dressed. They don’t fit as good as they used to, so I should probably make some more with Rayne soon. Clothes that aren’t white aren’t easy to find any more, after the Colored Fabric Ban of 3048. I look at myself in the mirror, feeling dissatisfied as usual.

Not even a second after I leave my room, I get tackled and held in a headlock. “Say uncle!” My best (and most annoying) friend, Rayne, ruffles my hair, laughing.

“Never!” I poke her in the side which makes her let go of me. Once she stops laughing, she crosses her arms and sticks her tongue out at me.

“No fair! We said no tickling!”

“We said that for Kai, never for you,” I remind her. She rolls her eyes and puts her arm around me.

“Whatever. Let’s go get some breakfast. I’m starving!”

“You’re always starving!”

“And you aren’t?” She puts her free hand on her hip, attempting to look threatening, I guess. “The food here isn’t exactly filling, y’know.”

“Hey, Dorris tries her best! Don’t diss her,” I say, flicking Rayne on the side of the head. She lightly smacks my arm in return, then looks up at my hair.

“You gonna dye your hair again soon? Your roots are showing.” She reaches up and pats my head.

“Yeah, maybe. I just don’t wanna go searching through the market for dye, though.” Rayne smiles widely, her eyes glittering in the low lighting of the Central Room.

“Luckily for you, I have a surplus of dye! Let’s go to my room after breakfast, okay?” I sigh.

“We can’t, remember? The General wants us to start patrolling today since the Upperground officials are starting to see us as a threat to national security.” She stops walking.

“WHAT?! That’s today? No fair!” She whines.

“Yeah, well, life’s not fair. That’s why we’re living in a literal cave.” I pull on her arm. “Now c’mon. If we hurry up, I bet I can ask Dorris if she’ll give you an extra cinnamon roll.”


	3. Newcomers and a Broken Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Rayne go off to training, and we get introduced to Kai.

After breakfast, Rayne and I hurry over to Training. We push our way to the front of the crowd. Despite Rayne’s whining earlier, she seems excited to actually be doing something.

“ATTENTION!” A short, stocky man in brown camo shouts at us. We all straighten up. He glares at us, despite not being the least bit threatening.

“Today,” he starts, crossing his arms over his chest, “you will be learning how to defend the Underground from infiltrators. Recently, there has been a rise of revolts on the Upperground, and their government officials aren’t very happy about that. They may have plans to attack us or our resources soon, so we need to be prepared.”

He sends us off to our stations. Rayne and I get sent to Station 12, which is a supply route. When we get there, we find a vest and utility belt for each of us, plus an extra one.

“Cool!” Rayne takes something out of her belt; a taser.

“Be careful with that! You’re clumsy.” She blows a raspberry in my direction. I flip her the bird, naturally. I look at the supplies in our belts. There’s a taser, pepper spray, and a communications device. That won’t do much good, though.

“What’s up, dorks! Your king has arrived!”

My other best (and also annoying) friend, Kai, struts up to us, exaggerating his walk by pretending he’s waving to an adoring crowd of fans. He swoops up his equipment and starts putting the vest on.

“Hey, Kai!” I give him a friendly smack upside the head. He grins and shoves my shoulder. Rayne crosses her arms. 

“C’mon, we have work to do.” I notice that Rayne is doing her signature ‘shark eyes’ look; she does it when she’s angry. Why’s she mad?

I don’t have time to ask Rayne this, though, because the alarms at our station start going off. “Quick, get in Formation Papa!” We move into a protective barrier in front of the large metal door, ready to attack whatever’s behind it.

A loud crash, probably the smaller inner door being kicked inwards, is heard from behind the door. I can hear voices, but they’re not clear. Rayne grips her pepper spray, her finger hovering over the button.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity of waiting, the outer door falls away. Two people stand where it was, the taller of the two holding a metal bat. She drops it immediately, and the two of them hold her hands up like they’re surrendering.

“We don’t want to fight! We are seeking refuge from the Upperground,” she says, looking the three of us up and down. Kai stares back at her, obviously trying to see if she’s lying or not.

“Come with me. We’ll go get the General and tell him what happened.” He motions for the two strangers in white to follow him. Before he leaves, he turns to Rayne and me. “And you two, please fix the door.”

After a moment of silence, Rayne speaks up. “I can’t believe he left us to fix it!”


	4. In Which Adrien Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn the names of the newcomers, and Adrien lies to Rayne.

The General cleared the two strangers to reside in the Underground. Kai, Rayne, and I sat down with them to get information about why they came here to give to the Center.

“What are your names?” Rayne pulls out her clipboard, looking very professional. She’s taking this a bit too seriously.

“I’m Vi, short for Violet, and this is my little brother, Wesley.” Violet wraps an arm around Wesley. He hasn’t said anything this entire time.

“How old are you two?” Rayne has her glasses on now. Oh, gods.

“I’m seventeen, and Wesley is six,” Violet says. She looks up at Rayne. “Look, can we hurry up with this? We’ve been travelling for six days trying to keep those guards off our tracks. We’re exhausted and hungry.”

“Sorry, but this is necessary,” Rayne tries to explain, but Kai cuts her off.

“Let’s just skip to the reason, okay?” Rayne glares at him, but nods. “Why are you two here?”

Violet’s eyes scan the room, almost as if she’s looking for something. She fixates on a spot on the wall behind us. “I wanted to give my brother a life where he could be free. He doesn’t deserve the way of life up there. None of us do.” The only sound is that of Rayne’s pen scratching frantically against her paper.

“That’s all we need. Thank you,” she says. She stands up and gestures for Violet and Wesley to do the same. “Kai will show you a room. Your brother can go to one of the children’s rooms-”

“No!” Violet’s sudden outburst makes us all jump. “I mean, no, that won’t be needed. He can’t sleep at night if I’m not with him.” She sighs. “Thank you, though.”

She leaves the room, holding her brother’s hand tightly. Kai follows them out, shooting me a glance. I didn’t understand what he was trying to say, though.

“Do you trust them?” I look over at Rayne. She’s going through the data that she’s written down, which seems like a lot more than she should have on there.

“What?” She sighs and turns to me, her dark grey eyes reminding me of a boulder; unmoving, stubborn, and dangerous if you push it.

“Do you trust them. It’s a simple question, Adrien.” Her tone turns sharp, like a mother who’s one sentence away from spanking a misbehaving toddler.

“Yes, I do,” I say to her. I’m not sure why I did it, but I lied to her. 

“Really? Hm.” That’s all she says before she leaves the room, her long black hair following her like a bridal train.

I’m left alone with nothing and everything at the same time. The room is empty, but my thoughts are everywhere. There’s nobody around, but their voices are reverberating in my head like bees in a beehive, stinging at my mind until I feel like exploding. 

There’s a steady air flow in the room, but I can’t breathe.


	5. The Panic Continues, and Kai Has to Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien suffers a panic attack. Kai tries to help him.

In the midst of my mini-panic attack/whatever the hell this is, I leave the room in search of Kai. He’s the only one that can calm me down. I see a group of people up ahead. Maybe they know where Kai is.

“Kai. Where is he?” They just stare at me.

“He’s right over there,” one of them answers. They point over to the left. I see Kai, and I run over to him.

“Hey, Adrien!” He smiles, but it turns into a frown. “What’s wrong?”

“Help,” I say, trying not to collapse onto Kai. He grabs my hand and takes me away from the crowd of people. I can’t stop breathing fast. Why can’t I stop?

Next thing I know, I’m back in the interrogation room. Kai helps me sit on one of the chairs, and he crouches on the floor next to me.

“Breathe, Adrien.” I try, but it doesn’t work. My mind’s gone into overdrive; I notice everything and it’s all too much. I can hear the footsteps outside, I can see the flickering of the light above us, and I can feel Kai gripping my hand tightly. Or maybe I’m gripping his hand.

“Can’t.” Kai mutters something to himself, then he lets go of my hand. He pulls up a chair and sits down next to me.

“Can you name four things you see?” I look around the room. I see a lot of things, but my voice doesn’t want to work.

“I see...the table,” I manage to force out. He nods.

“Good, keep going. Three more, okay?”

“The-the, uh, door. I see my boots, and…” I suddenly can’t think of anything else.

“One more, Adrien,” Kai says. I turn to him.

“You.” It was a stupid thing to say, but it’s all that I could think of. That panicky feeling in my chest isn’t going away, though; it’s wrapping itself tighter and tighter around me until I feel like I can’t breathe. Kai seems to notice me struggling.

“Okay, how about three things you hear? Can you do that?” I know he’s trying to help me, but it’s not working. Why won’t it work? I hate this.

“I hear footsteps, and-and talking, and your voice,” I stutter out. None of these “exercises” are helping me, they’re just really annoying. I can’t tell Kai that, though, because I know he’s trying.

“Two things you can smell?” He looks concerned. What for? He keeps running his hand through his short black hair. When he stops, he takes my hand again.

“Dirt and Rayne’s perfume.” Neither of those smell good. Especially the perfume.

“One thing you can feel, now,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper. I don’t know why he’s whispering, but I don’t know a lot of things, apparently.

“Your hand.”

“Okay, good.” He stares at me. “Do you feel any better?” When I shake my head, I see how defeated he looks.

“Sorry,” I mutter. He shakes his head.

“Adrien, look at me.” Once my eyes are on him, he starts speaking again. “You’re not the one that should be sorry, alright? You can’t control this. I’m sorry for not staying near you to make sure this didn’t happen again.”

I feel angry. I feel angry at Kai for being sorry, at Rayne for leaving me alone, and especially at myself for letting this happen. I jump when Kai touches my face. I was crying, and he was trying to wipe away my tears.

“Don’t cry, it’s alright,” he reassures me, “I’ll stay here until your breathing is steady.” That only makes me cry more. I don’t deserve someone as wonderful as Kai. He squeezes my hand and gives one of his signature half smiles.

I’m not sure how much time has passed, but I know it’s a long time before the panic wrapped around me finally dissipates. I look up at Kai, feeling guilty. I also feel so alone, although he’s sitting right next to me.

“I’m sorry,” I say, even though I know that I shouldn’t.

“Really, don’t be sorry.” Kai looks at me, looking somewhere between sympathetic and sad. “Can I hug you?”

I feel embarrassed because of how quickly I nodded and accepted the hug. He hugs me tightly, which helps me keep myself tethered to the present instead of floating adrift in my thoughts.

“Can I ask what happened, Adrien? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” His voice is muffled by my clothes, but I can still hear him.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “It just-it happened so fast…”

“It’s okay, you’re okay now.” We sit in silence after this. I know that Kai has places to go, but I don’t want him to leave. He makes me feel safe.

He’s the only one I can trust.


End file.
